So my Metroidvania kick continues. Except this game isn't actually a Metroidvania; it's a challenge platformer that includes a Metroidvania style map and progression of movement abilities. But the exploration and backtracking aspect of Metroidvanias is quite light; the emphasis is on seeing how good at platforming you are.

The game has an art style that seems to take cues from Vanillaware and the whole thing looks gorgeous. It's a visual treat that varies up the terrain while still being within the confines of the large forest you're trying to save. The music is similarly nice. Aesthetically the game is great.

The enemy variety is pretty low and unfortunately the most common ones tend to be the most annoying to fight. Enemies take many shots to kill, and your only weapon is a sort range auto tracking weapon with a bit of a cooldown to it (specifically, you can fire X shots and then have a cooldown period). Meanwhile enemies are a mix of projectile users and hoppers that move fairly quickly and most encounters are in chokepoints. It makes for a frustrating experience, as the enemies seem to power up at about the same rate you gain health/damage resistance, so you're always just a few hits away from death. Many times you're better off skipping enemies when you can. The game has no traditional bosses in it; the closest it comes are a handful of "minibosses" which lock you in a room until you kill them. They don't really take many more shots than other enemies, they just have short periods of vulnerability (think the lanmolas from Zelda).

The core of the game is the platforming. It's definitely from the school of precision jumping and trick movement. Spikes litter the area, with many sections involving jumping between areas of safety to stand/climb on. One key movement ability you gain midway through the game is to dash through an enemy or projectile; this becomes core to many of the platforming segments. In several instances you run a gauntlet of projectile enemies that you have to dash through the shots of to maintain your momentum or else fall to your death.

These culminate in the escape sequences. Your primary goal is to unlock and traverse three dungeons to activate the MacGuffins, then afterwards you have an escape sequence. This will be some timed challenge with a lot of instant death traps that requires you to use your abilities to the fullest. I found a lot of the obstacles to be neigh-impossible to avoid on a blind run.

The whole thing is set in a large world of interconnected maps, like you might see in a Metroidvania. And there's collectables to power up, like health and spirit containers and experience points to give you abilities on the skill tree. But the whole thing is deemphasized. A large number of them can be gotten with no backtracking, and the backtracking the game does have you do is fairly minimal compared to what you'd see in a traditional Metroidvania. It's sort of like how Mega Man ZX had a Metroidvania style map and some things that required you to backtrack but it was just some window dressing over the core experience, rather than being the core experience.

It's certainly a fun game if you like challenge platformers. Just don't go in expecting indie Super Metroid; that's Axiom Verge.

Games Beaten: 2015201620172018Blizzard Entertainment Software Developer - All comments and views are my own and not representative of the company.

Played a shitload of this. Easy mode, normal mode. Solo and co-op. Despite everyone's best attempts to sway me I always picked the character of Nicole, the cutesy mage. JUST LOOK AT HER AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

So, Guardian Heroes is Treasure's seminal beat 'em up / action-RPG hybrid. There's a shitload of nuance to be found in the controls and gameplay here. You have your weak and strong attacks, blocks, jumping / double-jumping / ducking, special attacks that can be executed with fighting game-esque combos (these also replenish MP), magic attacks that can also be executed with combos or via a menu, an AI buddy who can be given general "directions", multiple "planes" to leap between, an XP system where points can be assigned to various attributes WRPG-style, branching pathways, and a karma system that effects the ending. And that's just the single-player mode. My head was spinning at first, but once you get into the groove of the game everything comes together beautifully.

The game looks amazing and controls like a dream. A single playthrough can take 70 minutes or so, but there's tons of replay value given the various pathways. I'll begrudgingly admit that the XBLA remake does a few things better. The screen is much less cluttered in 16:9, the (occasional) slowdown is nonexistent, and it's easier to tell when enemies are dead/near-dead (this is important because certain bad guys explode!). That said, the game was made for the Saturn and the Saturn controls feel so much more smooth and natural.

This is such a great game. It absolutely murders its contemporaries (the Capcom D&D arcade games, for instance) and is better than virtually all the future titles it inspired. It's a shame the Saturn version is so expensive, but don't skip that $5 XBLA remake, yo.

Castlevania

Apparently I confused this game with Ys as I went right on ahead and played three different versions.

I never played Castlevania as a kid. I wasn't actively avoiding it - it just never seemed to show up in the local shops and rental stores. I'm finally getting around to completing it for this year's summer challenge.

The soundtrack. Holy balls is it good. Can't stop listening to it. One of the best on the NES. Solid graphics too.

As for the actual gameplay, I have mixed feelings. I've never been crazy about these slow stiff deliberate memorization-required action-platformers. I tend instead to gravitate towards twitch-based run 'n guns and hop 'n bop mascot platformers.

That said, Castlevania does things pretty well. The level design is exquisite and I love the gradual progression from outside the castle into Dracula's chambers. While the stages themselves didn't present much of a challenge the game's notorious difficulty becomes apparent when facing bosses. Some are just insane and I felt like I only completed the game by getting "lucky"/exploitative.

The three variations all look identical (and are in English) but have some notable differences regarding game saves. The FDS original has three save slots like Zelda, NES has nuthin' and must be completed in one go (OUCH), while the GBA port features a single save slot.

I'm glad I played this. While it didn't quite floor me it's "classic" status is well-earned. The sequel looks even better so I'll get to that soon.

Metal Slug games

Totally frenetic and frantic run 'n gun madness. I wrote about these games in the dedicated thread but let me reiterate that I found the first one to be the best - part two features some irritating slowdown while three is just insanely tough.

Still, part one is right up with Contra. And finally getting to complete something on MVS was a real treat.

Exhuminator wrote:In 1988, Pony Canyon released Malaya No Hihou, or rather "Malaya's Treasure", for the Japanese PC known as the MSX2. Malaya's Treasure saw limited release in its home country, and was never ported to any other platform, nor localized outside of Japan. Due to its obscurity, many gamers have never heard of Malaya's Treasure, understandably. But then in 2010, the fan trans group "MSX Translations" released an English patch for Malaya's Treasure. Hooray for belated unofficial localizations!

BoneSnapDeez wrote:The soundtrack. Holy balls is it good. Can't stop listening to it. One of the best on the NES.

Oh man, you are in for such a treat when you get around to Castlevania 2. It's one of my all time favorites on NES. (I'm not sure if the Famicom version's OST is better or not, but the NES version is bliss.)

Thanks. In case you missed it, a few days earlier I beat The Scheme (PC-88) and Aquales (X68000) and reviewed them here. This has been a banner year for me and old Japanese PC gaming. Who knew Bone wasn't crazy after all for loving archaic Japanese computers. Definitely some hidden gems out there.

I went in expecting Mario & Luigi, and that's what I got. If you were expecting any more or less, well, I'm not sure what you were expecting Xp. I have played the previous 3 games, but not the most recent one, so my review will mostly mention this game in relation to the others in the series. If you just wanna know if it's a good game, I'll save you a read and just tell you "yes, it is."

First off, this game is probably one of the lightest and least surprising in terms of story. The other three had some sort of play on who the bad guy would be, or how dark the theme might get at times, but this one is much more straightforward in terms of story. What this game's story is, though, is entertaining. Even playing it in Japanese and not totally understand the exact semantics going on all the time, there were many times where I legitimately laughed out loud because what was going on was so silly

(when Yumeppu and Starly are having a covert discussion about Bowser's butt had me absolutely in stitches).

Another thing I appreciated from the story, is how much actual characters from the other 3 games were in this one. The other three games were VERY separated, to the point where you could probably play them in any order, and aside from the first one being on GBA, you'd probably have some trouble deciding in which order they were made. This game is far from reliant on the plot of past games, but there were just so many reoccuring characters, comparatively. Starly is back from Bowser's Inside Story, there are members of the Bean Bean Kingdom and Woo Hoo Mountains vacationing all over the island from Superstar Saga, and there's even the koopa reporter from Partners in Time. I hope this trend continues in Paper Jam (when I eventually get around to it). I absolutely loved the Massive Twins X3 (I'm sorry, but I have no idea what their names are in English. That's just what I call them. They're the two strongmen who teach you lots of special moves).

The gameplay is fairly standard, but there are a few things that can make things really interesting. One thing, is that Bro Items are completely gone. I'll admit that I can't honestly remember if Bowser's Inside Story had Bro Moves or Bro Items, but this game is back to Bro Moves. More importantly, both Mario and Luigi don't share their respective Bro Moves, somewhat similarly to how their moves worked in Superstar Saga. So in addition to how their stat biases differ, their special move sets are also very different.

Where Bowser's Inside Story had the Bowser sections and Bro sections, this game has the real world and the dream world. The real world is just like normal Mario & Luigi fare, with both bros walking around, but the dream world is inside Luigi's dreams, and is a side-scrolling section. As a result, there are a completely separate set of special moves for the dream and real worlds, with many in the dream world involving some manipulation of the 3DS's inner gyroscope feature. The gyroscope stuff works well enough, but it was probably one of the mechanics that gave me the most trouble, just because sometimes it would be fairly difficult to aim something very precisely (granted you don't gotta do that too often).

Giant battles are also back in this game, and I wanna say there are a good handful more of them. I only remember Bowser's Inside Story having like 3 giant battles, where this game has 6. They're fun set-pieces, and its a cool change of pace. The only somewhat troublesome thing is that because they're so separated from the normal battle engine, your equipment and items don't really mean anything in the giant battles. It's either you master the timings of the hits and dodges, or you die. There's really no before-hand preparation you can do for them.

Another thing, this game is probably the Mario & Luigi game I'd say is the hardest in the group (of the first four). Especially because of the dream world, Luigi acts as more of a support role, and just Mario gets turns, similarly to how Bowser was all by himself in Inside Story. Bosses hit REALLY hard though, and if they stun you with one hit, you can be on a very quick path to death. Dream Team is definitely up there with Superstar Saga as being one of the harder Mario & Luigi games, in my opinion. Especially considering there's a hard mode once you beat the game once, and I'm not sure I wanna find out how hard that is right now Xp

Verdict: Highly recommended if you want a fun, quirky JRPG to play on your 3DS. It's another great entry in the series. I enjoyed it more than Bowser's Inside Story I would say, but they're all good games, and they're all worth trying

I identify everyone via avatar, so if you change your avatar, I genuinely might completely forget who you are. -- Me

Yeah I've noticed that some websites actually list Vampire Killer as a separate game rather than a port, due to all the differences.

Nice work on the other Japanese computer games. I love this kind of shit. I need to hook up my MSX soon and get started on Hydlide II.

Castlevania II is one I'm excited to play soon as well. I'm really interested in playing both the FDS and NES versions of all the seminal NES classics. So that's Zelda I & II, Castlevania I & II, Metroid, Kid Icarus, Super Mario Bros. 2........

The 8-bit Konami scene is pretty fascinating. Sure we all know about their NES games, but they also had tons of stuff on the MSX and were heavy supporters of the FDS as well. Not to mention those sweet, sweet C64 ports.

And ending my Metroidvania block on a massive high note. AM2R was finally released and I gave it a whirl. The title stands for "Another Metroid 2 Remake", in reference to the number of fan projects that attempted to update Metroid 2. This is the only one that's actually made it, and it's totally worth the wait. I finished in 4:30 with 90% items. By my accounting I'm missing one energy tank, 5 missile tanks, 5 super missile tanks, and 9 power bomb tanks. I've collected everything visible on the map, so it's either items that are sharing a spot with another item or more likely are behind false walls not indicated on the map. Given how large the map is I'm not going to bother going for 100% until an annotated map comes out and I can see the spots I missed.

So to properly review this game I need to establish context. The original Metroid was very mazelike but also had a fairly small map thanks to the limitations of the NES. This means that while you would spend tons of time getting lost when you first start playing if you pay attention you can quickly learn where the key items are. Since Ridley and Kraid drop 75 missiles on death and are vulnerable to your beam you actually don't need to know the full map to beat the game. Metroid 2, on the other hand, is much closer to Super Metroid in terms of map design and general expansiveness. Couple this with no in-game map and a zoomed in view point that makes it really hard to pinpoint where you are intuitively and many areas being housed inside caverns with multiple entrances and exits and you have a recipe for purgatory. The game was quite fun if you were following a map (even if it's just to see the layout and not the item locations) and a nightmare otherwise.

Flash forward to the 2000's. Nintendo remakes the original Metroid for the GBA as Metroid Zero Mission. This starts with the basic layout and progression of the original Metroid and brings in everything that was learned with Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion. Areas are expanded, new paths are created, new items are added, and new stage gimmicks are created. It's the best sort of remake; instantly familiar but a totally new game in terms of play experience. Which brings us to AM2R.

AM2R comes from the Zero Mission school of thought. You still have the same general layout but decades of learning in level design and user experience have vastly improved things. The maps are now very navigatable thanks to the in game map, and honestly I'd be happy if that was the only thing done. But like Zero Mission, AM2R builds on the framework of Metroid 2 to create a work that stands fully on its own. Several familiar items have been added and several new stage gimmicks have been created. The whole thing feels extremely fresh. Metroid 2 is notable for having an approach of traversing zones, with each one clearable on first visit and almost no backtracking (other than through the main shaft). AM2R is constrained by this but still puts in items you need to backtrack for (some very obvious). And as a concession to the level design there's one section near the end of the game, once you've unlocked all the movement abilities, that lets you open shortcuts to previous areas to finish your collection. It's a nice piece of usability, similar to how Fusion has the extra linkages between the various habitats to aid in getting that 100%.

The game controls fantastically. The guy really nailed the physics and I felt instantly comfortable with things. You absolutely need to play this with a controller. There were several items that required some really precise handling that gave me that "aha!" moment when I figured out what I needed to do and a real sense of accomplishment once I could pull it off.

The biggest change, though, is the updates to the boss fights. In the original Metroid 2 your boss fights were battles against the various evolved forms of Metroids. Alphas were fairly easy (thought could get tricky depending on the level geometry), Gammas were Alphas that needed timing, and Zetas were utter bastards. They swooped around and had a smaller vulnerable spot (compared to the "anywhere" of the previous two). And then the Omegas were a let down, because they didn't have mobility and just took a lot of shots. Well all of that is different now. Now the only vulnerable spot is the globy thing that resembles the larval Metroids. This instantly makes Alphas a threat and makes Gammas quite tricky. You need to wrangle them around with careful jumps and sometimes just balls to the wall rush them. They also get some new attacks; Alphas get a much faster dash and Gammas can grab you and suck away your health. Zetas are now ground-bound but have a variety of moves and require a decent amount of timing and precise jumps to nail them when they're vulnerable. And Omegas are amped up Zetas that are a legitimate threat. The game also tosses in a few other bosses. Arachnus is back and requires a more interesting way of defeating him, a cameo from another game shows up (you might be able to guess), an upgraded Torizo, and two completely new bosses. It helps break up the long stretches of Metroid fights.

The environments are amazing. Each one has a coherent theme and the layouts and puzzles fit that theme. The main shaft slowly changes as you get deeper. The whole thing shows a lot of care. The other place where a lot of care has been shown is in enemy behavior. The Metroids weren't the only ones to get upgrades. Enemies now have a variety of behaviors instead of the path following behavior of nearly every Metroid 2 enemy. Some still go on paths but many are actively aggressive and require some deft maneuvering on your party to take them down.

This game was clearly a labor of love. If you've ever enjoyed a Metroid game then you owe it to yourself to play this.

Games Beaten: 2015201620172018Blizzard Entertainment Software Developer - All comments and views are my own and not representative of the company.